Afro Little Havana: Commemorating the Black History of the "Latino Ellis Island"

Antebellum Black Codes

Laws such as the Fugitive Slave Law (of 1793 and 1850) and Dred vs. Sandford (which in 1857 decreed that no African Americans, enslaved or free, had rights as citizens under the U.S. Constitution), curtailed the freedoms and mobility of both enslaved and free blacks alike. Fears of slave rebellions heightened after the Haitian Revolution, and acts of resistance met with harsh punishments including public executions. Free blacks were often abducted and returned to slavery.

The United States assumed control of Florida in 1821, bringing a harsh slave code into force once again. Plantation owners pressured Florida’s first Legislative Council (which was whites only) to restrict the presence of Florida’s free blacks, and thus many blacks fled to Cuba (Dunn 2016: 18, 21, 42). 

REFERENCES

Dunn, Marvin. 2016. A History of Florida Through Black Eyes. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

 

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